“We love this country”

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made a joint appearance this morning in High Point, North Carolina. Ryan’s and Romney’s remarks are posted in their entirety in this NBC News video. Romney begins to speak at about 15:00.

According to my hurried notes, toward the of his remarks, at around 24:00, Romney states: “I love America. We’re going to restore American principles. We love this country. We don’t want to change it. We don’t want to transform it. We want to restore the principles of America that made us the hope of the earth.” Before he winds up Romney returns to the theme again, repeating it for emphasis: “We love this country. We love this country. We love America.” And one more time: “We love this country.”

We know who he’s talking about, even though the target is left unstated. Every such statement is an implicit rebuke to Barack Obama. It’s a message that strikes a deep chord, and I hope it’s one that the Romney campaign will carry all over the country.